EASLEY, S.C.: NATHANIEL DICKSON SHOOTS PARENTS, SIBLINGS

EASLEY, SOUTH CAROLINA
Easley is located in Pickens County at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Like so many towns in South Carolina, the completion of the railroad brought growth, and in 1874, the town of Easley was established. As of 2007, Easley's population is 19,194 people.


Investigators process evidence outside Easley, S.C. home where police say an 18-year-old man murdered his father, stepmother and two siblings

Teen arrested after 4 family members found dead at SC home
11 hours ago

EASLEY, S.C. (AP) — An 18-year-old man gunned down his father, stepmother and two siblings at the home they shared in suburban South Carolina, authorities said Saturday.

Nathaniel Dickson, 18, was arrested 8:30 p.m. Saturday at a home in Belton about 20 miles from where the bodies of his family members were found, Anderson County Sheriff's spokeswoman Susann Griffin said. He was charged with four counts of murder.

Less than 12 hours earlier, a 911 call led paramedics to find the father dead in the yard. Inside the home they found the other three victims, all shot to death.

The youngest victim, Dickson's 14-year-old brother, was apparently trying to hide behind a clothes dryer when he slain, authorities said.

Investigators have not determined a motive for the killings, Griffin said.

Griffin said Dickson does not have a lawyer. She would not say if he is cooperating with investigators.

The coroner's office identified the victims as Dickson's 46-year-old father, Samuel Andrew Dickson Jr.; his 46-year-old stepmother, Martiza Hurtado Dickson; his 19-year-old stepsister, Melissa Giliam Salazar; and his 14-year-old brother, Taylor Alex Dickson.

THERE WILL BE MORE TO THIS TRAGIC STORY...

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h_C5kLMRc0Den_glpePau1O11lKQD90A09M80

SEATTLE: PETER GULLBERG STRANGLES GIRLFRIEND WHO HAD MS

White Center man charged with manslaughter in girlfriend's death
Suspect was victim's caregiver
By SCOTT GUTIERREZP-I REPORTER/ Last updated April 25, 2008 10:53 p.m. PT

A White Center man was charged Friday with first-degree manslaughter for the death of his girlfriend, who had muscular dystrophy and relied on him as a live-in caregiver.

Peter E. Gullberg, 41, faces at least 6 1/2 to 8 1/2 years' imprisonment if convicted. Prosecutors likely would seek an exceptional prison term because the wheelchair-bound victim was especially vulnerable, said Dan Donohoe, King County Prosecutor's Office spokesman.

Gullberg called 911 Tuesday and reported that his girlfriend, Stephanie Campeau, wasn't breathing at their 14th Avenue Southwest home. He told sheriff's deputies that he had struck her on both sides of the head with his hands during an argument, court documents say.

He was arrested and taken to jail, with bail set at $1 million. Gullberg is scheduled for arraignment May 8.

The couple had known each other for 12 years and lived together for the past six. They've dated off and on and Gullberg was her paid caregiver, court documents say.

In an interview with detectives, Gullberg said the victim was egging him on by ramming her wheelchair into furniture and running over his toe. She kept shouting: "What are you going to do, hit me? Hit me, just hit me," court documents say.

"I finally snapped this morning. I did it, I did it," the defendant allegedly told investigators.

HIS OTHER CHOICE: JUST LEAVE, JUST WALK AWAY...
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/360696_caregiver26.html

SEATTLE: DAVID TORRENCE, RAPIST ON THE LOOSE

David J. Torrence

Darren Breen / The Herald
The 92nd Street SE bridge over U.S. 2 is where the state Department of Corrections assigned a level-3 sex offender to live.

Why rapist got put under Snohomish bridge
High-risk sex offender had no place to go, now on the lam
By Jackson Holtz and Jerry Cornfield, Herald Writers /Published: Saturday, April 26, 2008

SNOHOMISH -- They tried motels. They tried relatives. They tried homeless shelters.

When a high-risk sex offender was about to be released from prison, he had no place to stay. The state told him to sleep under a bridge beneath U.S. 2 near Snohomish.

"That's not an acceptable place to be living," Snohomish Police Chief John Turner said. "There is an issue. Where do sex offenders live? Where can they live?

"There's another issue, too.

Three days after being released from prison, David J. Torrence, 43, on Wednesday cut off the electronic monitoring bracelet he was issued and stopped reporting to his parole officer.

A nationwide no-bail arrest warrant has been issued for Torrence. He's a level-3 sex offender and considered at the highest risk of reoffending.

(snip)

The bridge near Snohomish was selected because it was convenient for Torrence to check in with parole supervisors and get transportation to other services, Rehberg said, adding there were no other alternatives for the homeless offender.

"I didn't want him under that bridge either," she said.

In 1995, Torrence pleaded guilty to second-degree rape. He was accused of grabbing a 16-year-old Snohomish County girl off Fifth Avenue near Casino Road. He threatened to shoot her and then sexually assaulted her, according to court records.

"He's a stranger rapist, which is the worst of all kinds," Snohomish County sheriff's detective Joseph Beard said. Beard tracks sex offenders in the county.

(snip)

Torrence's case isn't unique.

In the first three months of 2008, the state Department of Corrections (in Washinton state)released 34 level-3 sex offenders. Of those, 15 were homeless at release, said spokeswoman Anna Aylward.

FIND DAVID TORRENCE: LEVEL 3 SEX OFFENDER...
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080426/NEWS01/497109135&news01ad=1

ATLANTA: GEORGIA AND SEQUITA THORNTON BRUTALLY BEAT TEACHER

Georgia Thornton /Fulton County Sheriff's Office
Sequita Thornton / Fulton County Sheriff's Office

Mother, Daughter Charged With Attacking Teacher
POSTED: 3:39 pm EDT April 21, 2008

ATLANTA -- A high school teacher tells WSB-TV Channel 2 she was brutally attacked in her classroom by one of her students and the girl's mother.

Police charged Georgia Thornton, 44, and her 17-year-old daughter Sequita with attacking Felecia Williams, a teacher at Southside High School on February 28. The official charges against the mother include battery on a school teacher, disrupting a public school, criminal trespass and theft by taking in connection with the alleged attack on teacher.

Sequita Thornton was charged with battery on a teacher and disrupting a public school.

Williams told WSB-TV Channel 2 that the teenager was failing her TV Production class. The teacher claims Georgia Thornton visited the school to complain about the girl's treatment and attacked her during the meeting, knocking her to the ground, kicking and punching her and pulling her hair. Williams claims Sequita Thornton joined the attack.

“And then she threw the book back and just took me like this and then started flinging me everywhere,” said Williams.

Williams said eventually two of her students stepped in and stopped the attack.

READ MORE ABOUT THIS VICIOUS ATTACK...
http://www.wsbtv.com/news/15948462/detail.html

WHO WAS DENNIS GERWING? EMBEZZLER, MURDERER, SUICIDE

This 2003 file photo released by IWL Photography shows Dennis Gerwing. Gerwing, the accountant who killed himself after being questioned by police in the disappearance of two Hilton Head Island clients had embezzled $2.1 million from the couple and seven other companies, his former employer said Tuesday April 22, 2008. Gerwing committed suicide March 11 after police questioned him about the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, a couple who live part-time on a yacht on the resort island and in a home in Atlanta. (AP Photo/IWL Photography, Bill Littell, File)

In this July 2006 photo provided by Hilton Head Monthly Magazine, John and Elizabeth Calvert are seen as part of a story about their leasing of space. (AP Photo)

March 7: The cruiser ‘Yellow Jacket’ sits unattended on Hilton Head Island, S.C. The boat has been left abandoned since the owners disappeared. (AP Photo)

Audit: Man Took $2.1M From Missing S.C. Couple, Others
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, S.C — An accountant who killed himself after being questioned by police in the disappearance of two Hilton Head Island clients had embezzled $2.1 million from the couple and seven other companies, his former employer said Tuesday.

An audit ordered by management company The Club Group found that chief financial officer Dennis Gerwing took money from its clients for four years, depositing it into a hidden checking account, the company said.

Gerwing committed suicide March 11 after police questioned him about the disappearance of John and Elizabeth Calvert, a couple who live part-time on a yacht on the resort island and in a home in Atlanta. The couple were last seen in early March and searches of the resort island, its harbor and in Georgia have been fruitless.

Police have said Gerwing, 54, was the last person to see the couple together.

Mark King, president of The Club Group, said he met last week with the clients who lost money and promised to repay them using money from Gerwing's estate, insurance settlements and his own assets.

"I am still in shock over the betrayal of trust and the death of my partner of 21 years. I have no idea what might have prompted Dennis to engage in this behavior, but as chief executive, I want to apologize on behalf of our company to all who were adversely affected," King said in a statement.

Gerwing stole from eight of The Club Group's 10 Hilton Head Island clients by using wire transfers, checks and other transactions that mixed investment money with his personal funds, King said.

A MURDER MYSTERY WORTHY OF TV SCRIPT...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,352202,00.html

MAN KILLS WIFE, TAKES KIDS: SOME MEN ARE HEROES, SOME ARE COWARDS!

Sofia Garcia's body was found Monday afternoon, April 21, 2008, at a home in the 1700 block of North Harding Avenue in Chicago. Police are looking for Benito Casanova, and issued an Amber Alert Monday after they say he picked up Garcia's three children from school Friday and hasn't been seen since. (Memorial photo)

A memorial for Sofia Garcia was put together Tuesday at Yates Elementary School where she used to take ESL classes. Garcia was found murdered and her three children are missing. (Tribune photo by Candice C. Cusic / April 22, 2008)

Benito Casanova is sought in the abduction of three children; Oscar Casanova, 6; Karla Casanova, 7; and Fernando Casanova, 11. Their mother, Sophia Garcia, was found dead in the 1700 block of North Harding Avenue about noon Monday with a plastic bag over her head. (Photo courtesy National Center for Missing & Exploited Children)

Oscar Casanova, 6, (from left) Karla Casanova, 7, and Fernando Casanova, 11, are reported to have been abducted at 2:30 p.m. on Friday from the 1800 block of North Richmond Street in Chicago. They may be in a a silver/gray Dodge Dakota with single Illinois license plate, No. 86196HB. (National Center for Missing & Exploited Children photo)

Slain Chicago woman had order of protection against husband
Amber Alert: Father sought in connection with children's abduction
By Angela Rozas, Ofelia Casillas and Dan P. Blake Tribune reporters
4:50 PM CDT, April 22, 2008

A mother of three found dead with a plastic bag over her head had an order of protection barring her husband from contacting her, according to court records.

Police are looking for the man, Benito Casanova, and issued an Amber Alert Monday after they say he picked up her three children from school Friday and hasn't been seen since.

The order of protection, granted by authorities in February 2007 and in effect until 2009, came after Sofia Garcia, 30, alleged Casanova choked her in her home and told her he would kill her if she wouldn't take him back."

He had entered my home and hid until I returned," she wrote in the petition, ". . .[choked] me telling me that he was going to kill me because I did not want to be with him. He ALWAYS tells me that he is going to KILL me if I don't take him back, then kill himself."

WHAT KIND OF MAN KILLS THE MOTHER OF HIS CHILDREN?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-amber-alert-webapr22,0,2876911.story

(Tribune reporters Jeremy Gorner and Kristen Kridel contributed to this report.)

AMBER ALERT:

Benito Casanova, described as about 6-foot-1, 230 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

The children were identified as: Fernando Casanova, 11, Karla Casanova, 7, and Oscar Casanova, 6. Police said Benito Casanova is the father of Fernando and Oscar Casanova. Fernando is described as 5 feet tall and 130 pounds. Oscar is described as 4 feet tall and 60 pounds. Karla is about 4 feet tall and 75 pounds.

The three children are Hispanic with brown hair and eyes.

They may be traveling in a 2002 silver or gray Dodge Dakota,

with Illinois license plate 86196HB, police said. One plate is missing from the car.

ALASKA RANGER: US COAST GUARD INVESTIGATES SINKING

Ex-captain grilled at hearing on Alaska Ranger sinking
By Hal Bernton / Seattle Times staff reporter

Contact Hal Bernton: 206-464-2581 or hbernton@seattletimes.com

Saturday, April 19, 2008 - Page updated at 12:00 AM

Steve Slotvig is a burly veteran of the Bering Sea fisheries with a gold anchor earring and, as former captain of the Alaska Ranger, an insider's knowledge of the vessel and crew.

Slotvig said he quit the command March 5, less than three weeks before the Alaska Ranger sprung a stern leak and went down in the Bering Sea. His abrupt midseason departure was spurred by fatigue and a troubled relationship with a Japanese fishmaster.

"I needed the break. I had been up there a long time, and when he got angry with me, I asked to be put on another vessel," Slotvig testified to Coast Guard officials Friday in Seattle.

Slotvig is a high-profile witness in the marathon Marine Board of Investigation hearings into the circumstances surrounding the sinking that claimed the lives of five of the 47 crew aboard the factory trawler. The hearings began in Alaska on March 28.

His Friday testimony triggered some of the most testy, combative exchanges yet as Coast Guard investigators pressed Slotvig to describe the widespread ice during the winter fishing season and his relationship with fishmaster Satoshi Konno, a representative of Japanese seafood buyers who died when the vessel sank.

Konno's influence on the vessel has been a point of contention because federal laws require licensed American captains such as Slotvig to be in command. Seattle-based Fishing Company of Alaska, which operated the Alaska Ranger, has fishmasters assisting American captains to find and catch fish.

WHAT REALLY HAPPENED? THE INVESTIGATION CONTINUES...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004359699_ranger19m.html

COLUMBIA, S.C.: TEEN HAD ALL THE SUPPLIES TO MAKE BOMB

South Carolina Teen Arrested for Alleged High School Bomb Plot
Sunday, April 20, 2008

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A high school senior collected enough supplies to carry out a bomb attack on his school and detailed the plot in a hate-filled diary that included maps of the building and admiring notations about the Columbine killers, authorities said Sunday.

Ryan Schallenberger, 18, was arrested Saturday after his parents called police when 10 pounds of ammonium nitrate was delivered to their home in Chesterfield and they discovered the journal, said the town's police chief, Randall Lear.

The teen planned to make several bombs and had all the supplies needed to kill dozens at Chesterfield High School, depending on where the devices were placed and whether they included shrapnel, Lear said. Ammonium nitrate was used in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 that killed 168 people.

"The only thing left was delivering the bombs," the police chief said.

Schallenberger kept a journal for more than a year that detailed his plans for a suicide attack and included maps of the school, police said. The writings did not include a specific time for the attack or the intended targets.

He also left an audio tape to be played after he died explaining why he wanted to bomb his school. Lear wouldn't detail what was on the tape except to say Schallenberger was an angry young man.

SCARY STORY! READ ON...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351894,00.html

BIMBO JIMBO...

LOS ANGELES: TWO OLD WOMEN GUILTY OF KILLING TWO OLD MEN

Luis Sinco / AP
Helen Golay, 77, listens as guilty verdicts are read against her in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom on Wednesday.

Pool / Getty Images file
Olga Rutterschmidt walks into Criminal Court last Thursday in downtown Los Angeles.

Elderly women guilty of conspiring to murder
Calif. jury convicts pair in scheme to insure homeless men, run over them
Associated Press / updated 2 hours, 9 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES - An elderly woman was convicted Wednesday of murdering two homeless men to collect insurance payouts, and she and a co-defendant were found guilty of counts involving conspiracy to murder for financial gain.

Partial verdicts were being read in the case against Helen Golay, 77, and Olga Rutterschmidt, 75. The judge decided to take five initial verdicts as the jury struggled with Rutterschmidt's murder counts.

Golay was convicted of the first-degree murders of Kenneth McDavid, 50, in 2005 and Paul Vados, 73, in 1999. Golay was also convicted of the conspiracy counts in both killings.

Rutterschmidt was convicted of conspiracy to murder McDavid for financial gain.

During the verdict readings, the jury was sent back into deliberations to clear up a finding. The panel had asked earlier in the day for readings of testimony by three witnesses, and jurors also asked for a laptop so they could review DVDs entered into evidence.

Prosecutors said the women collected $2.8 million from insurance policies on the lives of two homeless men who were killed in staged hit-and-runs.

Prosecutors said the women recruited their prey from among the homeless of Hollywood, invested thousands of dollars in insurance policies on them and in putting them up in apartments, then drugged them and ran them over in secluded alleys.

MY, WEREN'T THESE BUSY LADIES!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24167527/

ORDWAY, COLORADO: HUNDREDS FLEE FIRES, THREE KILLED

CBS4 News

Chris McClean/AP

Thick, black smoke rolls across a road near Ordway, Colo., during a grass fire whipped by high winds into a massive blaze that destroyed homes and fields in and around the small southeastern Colorado town on Tuesday. April 15, 2008. 12:44 a.m. ET, 4/16/08

AP/ Aspen Times

Colorado Wildfires Kill 3, Force Evacuation of 1,100
Wednesday, April 16, 2008

ORDWAY, Colo. — Wildfires in warm, windy weather burned into a southeast Colorado town and on an Army post Tuesday, and a firefighting pilot and two other people died.

All 1,100 residents of the town of Ordway were told to leave because of a fire that burned across 7,100 acres, or 11 square miles, authorities said. By 9 p.m. Tuesday, firefighters had contained about 50 percent of the fire, which damaged at least 20 buildings, four within town town limits, fire spokesman Chris Sorensen said.

Crowley County sheriff's deputy Bill Hamilton said late Tuesday he didn't immediately have details on the two deaths.

The pilot died when the crop duster-type plane crashed along a highway just east of Fort Carson, said Mike Fergus of the Federal Aviation Administration. A fire there had burned about 9,000 acres, or 14 square miles.

The Army said some evacuations were forced by the fire near Fort Carson, about 60 miles south of Denver. A shelter was being set up at a special events center on base, Capt. Gregory Dorman said.

One state highway was closed. The cause of that fire hadn't been determined.

Much of the state was under a National Weather Service red flag warning, signifying high fire danger. Gov. Bill Ritter declared a state of emergency, freeing up state resources to help fight the fire.

On the southeastern plains around Ordway, winds were gusting to 50 mph, humidity was low and temperatures reached into the 80s. Dry conditions on the plains and in some mountain valleys contrasted with deep snow at higher elevations.

Two state highways were closed to the town, 122 miles southeast of Denver.

READ MORE ABOUT THESE DANGEROUS FIRES...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351404,00.html

ALASKA RANGER: SHIP SANK OFF ALASKA, INVESTIGATION HEATS UP

The Alaska Ranger is seen at a port in Dutch Harbor, Jan. 2006. The Coast Guard said four crew members died Sunday, March 23, 2008, and another was missing after the 184-foot Alaska Ranger began sinking in high seas off Alaska's Aleutian Islands. (AP Photo/Jim Paulin) (AP)

Company officials grilled in Alaska Ranger sinking investigation
By DAN CATCHPOLE
Associated Press Writer/ April 16, 2008

Federal investigators on Tuesday grilled two officials of the company that owned a fishing vessel lost in the Bering Sea, asking about previous reports of drinking on board, rips in survival suits and the condition of the ship's watertight doors.

The Seattle-based Fishing Co. of Alaska, which owned the Alaska Ranger, followed safety regulations to the best of its ability, the witnesses told the Marine Board of Investigation, which included Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board officials.

"We're fishermen but we're not dummies, and the North Pacific is a rough place to make a living," said William McGill, a former captain of the Alaska Ranger and now operations manager for the Fishing Co. of Alaska.

The investigation, which resumed Tuesday in Seattle after earlier hearings in Alaska, focused on technical issues and questions raised in previous hearings.

Five people died when the Seattle-based ship went down in rough seas about 120 miles west of Dutch Harbor in the Aleutian Islands on March 23. The vessel was on its way to mackerel grounds when it began taking on water through the rudder room.

Forty-two crewmen were rescued by the Coast Guard and the Alaska Ranger's sister ship, the Alaska Warrior.

The Fishing Co. of Alaska also faces legal action, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, noting five survivors of the sinking filed personal injury lawsuits Monday in King County Superior Court.

Some survivors had testified that there were rips in survival suits. There has also been conflicting testimony about drinking on board.

STAY TUNED FOR MORE INVESTIGATION NEWS...
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2004351935_%20apwaabandonedship1stldwritethru.html

MICHEL VEILLETTE, KILLED FAMILY: COMMITS SUICIDE IN JAIL

A Beautiful Family, lost. May they rest in God's hands.

Michel Veillette, a Quebec man accused of killing his wife and causing the death of his four children, enters an Ohio municipal court Wednesday.(Malinda Hartong/Associated Press/The Cincinnati Enquirer)

Michel Veillettte, the Mason, Ohio father accused of killing his wife and causing the death of his four children appears before Judge D. Andrew Batche in Mason Municipal Court.
CNS file photo

Autopsy confirms Quebec man committed suicide in Ohio prison
Denise G. Callahan, Cox News ServicePublished

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

MASON, Ohio - Michel Veillette, accused of killing his wife and children in their Mason home, frequented a strip club in Canada and even asked one of the strippers to move to South Carolina with him, the Mason city prosecutor said Tuesday.

Prosecutors in Mason, Ohio Tuesday released details of some of the evidence they had planned to present at Veillette's murder trial, just hours after Veillette hanged himself in his cell with bed sheets early Tuesday morning.

Prosecutor Robert Peeler said Veillette, 34, also told another stripper in Canada he planned to leave his wife and their children.

Veillette, a Canadian citizen, had been in the jail since Jan. 18, after being charged with stabbing his wife, 33-year-old Nadya Ferrari-Veillette on Jan. 11. Police alleged that Veillette also started a fire in the house, killing their four children who were asleep upstairs.

His children - Marguerite, 8, Vincent, 4, and 2-year-old twins Mia and Jacob - died of carbon monoxide poisoning, according to coroners' reports.

Police said the couple had argued about Veillette's mistress and financial problems.

Records from the murder investigation remain sealed by court orders, but Peeler talked about some of the evidence after Veillette's death.

"There were two strippers at a club he frequented," Peeler said. "One of them said he creeped her out and she told him to knock it off. The other one said he was helping her get a divorce and bought her some expensive jewelry and he was getting a job in South Carolina, I think he wanted her to go down there with him."

READ SHOCKING UPDATE...

http://www.canada.com/reginaleaderpost/news/story.html?id=2dd46f55-1ca4-4462-91e5-d766e3e43e58&k=7120

CHRIS PITTMAN: SHOT GRANDPARENTS AT AGE 12, APPEAL DENIED

Janet Sisk, founder of the Juvenile Justice Foundation of the Carolinas, shows a Free Christopher Pittman pin in Matthews, N.C., Friday, April 6, 2007. Sisk is an advocate for Christopher Pittman, a South Carolina teen imprisoned for murdering his grandparents when he was 12. (AP Photo/Jason E. Miczek).

(AP Photo/MARY ANN CHASTAIN)

Defense attorney Karen Barth Menzies contends the antidepressant Zoloft drove Christopher Pittman to kill his grandparents.

2001: Christopher Pittman, 12, killed his grandparents, Joe and Joy Pittman

Supreme Court Won't Hear Young Killer's Appeal
Monday, April 14, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court refused Monday to review a 30-year prison sentence for a teen who was 12 when he killed his grandparents in South Carolina.

Lawyers for Christopher Pittman wanted the justices to examine whether the long prison term for a child violates the Constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. With no possibility of parole, he will be 42 before he is released, they said.

Pittman is the only inmate serving such a lengthy sentence for a crime committed at such a young age, his lawyers said. The judge who sentenced him was prohibited by law from taking his age into account.

South Carolina contended the punishment is proportionate to the crime and said there is a national trend of increased punishment for young violent criminals.

Pittman used a shotgun to shoot Joe and Joy Pittman in their bed and then set fire to their home in 2001. During his trial four years later, Pittman's attorneys unsuccessfully argued the slayings were influenced by the antidepressant Zoloft — a charge the maker of the drug vigorously denied.

The Supreme Court appeal dealt only with the length of Pittman's sentence.

READ RECENT UPDATE...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351241,00.html

OHIO: DERRIS LEWIS CHARGED WITH SHOOTING TWIN, DENNIS, DURING ROBBERY

Ohio Teen Charged as Accessory in Identical Twin's Murder
Saturday, April 12, 2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The death of Dennis Lewis was shocking enough: The National Honor Society student and marching band member was shot in his bedroom while masked robbers held a gun on his mother in another room.

Then police arrested his identical twin, an advanced placement student also active in their high school band. Authorities are accusing Derris Lewis of taking part in the attack and being an accomplice in his brother's death, saying his bloody palm print was found in the bedroom where Dennis was killed.

The family, crushed by the death of one twin, is adamant the other is innocent.

"There's no way, shape or form that my brother was even in that house," said the boys' older sister, Diane Lewis, who lives two doors from where the shooting happened. "He would never put my mom in harm's way whatsoever — she didn't raise killers or criminals."

Derris is charged in juvenile court with being an accomplice to aggravated murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping. Because he turned 18 two weeks after the shooting, prosecutors are seeking to have him charged as an adult.

TWINS? GO FIGURE! READ THE REST OF THIS STORY...
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351014,00.html

Events in Identical Twin Slaying in Ohio
By The Associated Press – 7 hours ago

Some events in the case of Derris Lewis, charged as a juvenile with being an accomplice in the death of his twin brother Dennis:

_ Jan. 18. Masked intruders enter the home of the boys' mother, April Agee, and demand money at gunpoint. At least one attacker struggles with her 17-year-old son Dennis Lewis, beating him with part of a bar stool. He is fatally shot.

_ Jan. 24. Family holds funeral, during which Dennis is remembered as active at school, including in sports and theater. Derris sings a gospel song with a cousin that Dennis and Derris had sung together in the past.

_ Feb. 13. Police arrest Derris in connection with his brother's death after questioning him for several hours. A search warrant says Derris' bloody palm print was found at the scene.

_ Feb. 17. The Lewis family issues a statement saying police have made a mistake. The statement says, in part, "Derris truly loved his brother with all his heart" and "Derris would have no conceivable motive to do any of this."

_ March 12. After two hearings are delayed, Juvenile Court Judge Dana Preisse sets an April 30 hearing date for prosecutors' request to charge Derris as an adult.

Source: AP Research

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jUwd-bnBjgPaSGB-gmkiPxkA32LAD900E94G0

CESAR LAUREAN: CAPTURED IN VILLAGE OF TACAMBARO, MEXICO

Map shows location of Tacambaro, Mexico, where Cesar Laurean was captured.

Mexico Coat of Arms
Mexican Flag
Cesar Laurean: shows tattoo on arm

Capture of Cabin Dweller Cesar Laurean Shocks Mexican Villagers Who Knew Him
By TRACI CARL , Saturday, April 12, 2008
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN JUAN DE LA VINA, Mexico — People wondered about the bearded stranger with a foreign accent who moved into a rustic cabin weeks ago in the pine-clad mountains surrounding this picturesque village.

Some thought maybe he was a drug trafficker — something not unheard of in these parts. It was not until Friday when they saw Cpl. Cesar Laurean's photograph in the local newspaper that they learned he was a U.S. Marine suspected of killing a pregnant colleague.

Police arrested Laurean, 21, on Thursday as he was walking along the main street in San Juan de la Vina in the municipality of Tacambaro, ending a three-month manhunt. He is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach, 20, who had accused him of rape.

Lauterbach's burned remains were found in January in the backyard of his home near Camp Lejeune, a coastal North Carolina base that is home to roughly 50,000 Marines.

FBI Public Affairs Specialist Amy Thoreson said FBI agents were present at Laurean's arrest in Mexico, but it was unclear what role they played.

Bearded and thin, Laurean told police he survived for months largely by eating avocados from the orchard in the mountains where he lived in Michoacan state.

COME ON HOME, KILLER...

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350834,00.html

DENISE AMBER LEE: 9-1-1 CALL COULD HAVE SAVED HER

DENISE AMBER LEE, 21

9-1-1 CALL CENTER
MICHAEL KING, 36, KILLER

911 Call Center Blamed for Young Mother’s Death
By Ted Moore / 18:30, April 11th 2008

The tragedy of losing his wife and the mother of his two children gives birth to an even deeper pain for Nathan Lee whenever he thinks that Denise Lee could have been saved if the 911 call center workers would have done their job properly.

Nathan thinks that the 911 call center acted with negligence. As a result, he and his attorney, Thomas Marryott , have announced their intention to file a lawsuit against the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Department in Florida.

It is hard for him now and it will be hard for him also in the future when Lee will have to explain to his two sons why their mother is not beside them. “Someday I’m going to have to tell our little boys, who have very few memories, if any, of their amazingly courageous and brave mommy. I will have to tell them that she died needlessly,” Lee told NBC News.

Denise Amber Lee died on January 17.

She was kidnapped at about 2:30 p.m. from her home in North Port, Fla. At 9 p.m. her murderer, a 36-year-old unemployed plumber named Michael King, was arrested for killing the 21-year-old mother. A ring and some hair which was found on his Camaro’s black seat linked King with Lee’s death.

However, the problem is that before she was killed, Denise called 911 several times. She managed to get the kidnapper’s cell phone, called the police and also left an open connection that allowed the Charlotte County Sheriff to know about the kidnapping.

Furthermore, 911 received calls from other witnesses who reported seeing the woman trying to escape a dark green Camaro.

Still, the 911 call center workers apparently forgot to pass along the information.

THIS STORY IS FAR FROM OVER...
http://www.enews20.com/news_911_Call_Center_%20Blamed_for_Young_Mothers_Death_07210.html

CESAR LAUREAN: FBI CAPTURES KILLER IN MEXICO

CESAR LAUREAN: Guess we wiped that smirk off his face!

Apr 10, 9:57 PM EDT
FBI arrests suspect in slaying of Marine
By ESTES THOMPSON
Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A Marine wanted in the brutal slaying of a pregnant colleague who had accused him of rape was arrested in Mexico, the FBI said late Thursday. The FBI's office in Charlotte said special agents and Mexican authorities arrested Marine Cpl. Cesar Laurean, who is charged with murder in the death of Marine Lance Cpl. Maria Lauterbach. The FBI did not say when or where in Mexico Laurean was arrested, but said he is awaiting extradition to the U.S.

"Laurean's swift arrest in Mexico was due to the diligence and dedication of the Mexican government and our law enforcement partners," Nathan Gray, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Charlotte office, said in a statement.

"This was truly an international effort, and we will do all we can to ensure Laurean is brought back to Onslow County (N.C.) as quickly as possible to answer the charges against him."

GREAT NEWS FOR MARIA LAUTERBACH'S FAMILY...
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MISSING_MARINE?SITE=CADIU&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Thank you Mexico for assisting in the capture of this punk! Thank you FBI for your great crime work on this case, and for not giving up! I know this case is far from over, so I'll be writing updates tomorrow and all weekend. The next step will be extradition. This could take up to two years if Laurean fights it. He might as well just come back now.
CHOMP

JOHN CORNYN: WHAT I HEARD AT THE PETRAEUS-CROCKER HEARINGS

April 09, 2008, 0:40 p.m.

What I Heard at the Petraeus-Crocker Hearings
Seeing the mission through.

By John Cornyn

America's top military commander and chief diplomat in Iraq reported Tuesday that we are making significant progress there. They added that we cannot afford to squander our gains by losing our resolve. But was anybody really listening?

Just this morning, Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said the following on the Senate floor: "Is the war in Iraq making America safer? By all accounts, the answer…is `no.'

"Senator Reid's statement stands in direct contradiction to Amb. Crocker's testimony on Tuesday. "Al-Qaeda is our mortal and strategic enemy. So to the extent that al-Qaeda's capacities have been lessened in Iraq and they have been significantly lessened, I do believe that makes America safer."

Gen. David Petraeus and Amb. Ryan Crocker said the advances in security are fragile, and we must be patient in securing them.

(snip)

We all want to bring our troops home — there is no disagreement over that goal. The question is whether they will return after defeating the threat, or whether they'll return to an America that is less safe and more vulnerable to another terrorist attack.

If we give up too soon, according to Petraeus and Crocker, Iraq would become a breeding ground for terrorists, much like Afghanistan before 9/11. Last month, Osama bin Laden declared Iraq would be a "perfect" base for al-Qaeda. But thanks to our volunteer military, we now have al Qaeda on the run, as Gen. Petraeus declared: "We have our teeth into the jugular, and we need to keep it there."

— Senator John Cornyn (R., Tex.), is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. He traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan earlier this year.

READ MORE OF THE TRUTH ABOUT IRAQ, ABOUT OUR TROOPS, ABOUT OUR COMMITMENT TO FREEDOM...

National Review Online - http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=MjQ2MTBiMDQzNGViYWM2MzU4OWU0ODBlMmQwODZjZWI